Exodus 23

1 “You shall not accept a lying voice. Neither shall you join your hand so as to give false testimony on behalf of the impious.

Thou shalt not receive a vain report: thou shalt not agree with the unjust [man] to become an unjust witness.

2 You shall not follow the crowd in doing evil. Neither shall you go astray in judgment, by agreeing with the majority opinion, apart from the truth.

Thou shalt not associate with the multitude for evil; thou shalt not join thyself with a multitude to turn aside with the majority so as to shut out judgment.

3 Likewise, you shall not show pity in judgment of the poor.

And thou shalt not spare a poor man in judgment.

4 If you come across an ox or a donkey of your enemy, which has gone astray, lead it back to him.

And if thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt turn them back and restore them to him.

5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you, fallen under its burden, you shall not pass by without lifting it up with him.

And if thou see thine enemy's ass fallen under its burden, thou shalt not pass by it, but shalt help to raise it with him.

6 You shall not deviate in judgment of the poor.

Thou shalt not wrest the sentence of the poor in his judgment.

7 You shall flee from lies. The innocent and the just you shall not kill. For I shun the impious.

Thou shalt abstain from every unjust thing: thou shalt not slay the innocent and just, and thou shalt not justify the wicked for gifts.

8 Neither shall you accept bribes, which blind even the prudent and subvert the words of the just.

And thou shalt not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the seeing, and corrupt just words.

9 You shall not harass a sojourner, for you know the life of a newcomer. For you yourselves also were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

And ye shall not afflict a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger; for ye were yourselves strangers in the land of Egypt.

10 For six years, you shall sow your land and gather its produce.

Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather in the fruits of it.

11 But in the seventh year, you shall release it and cause it to rest, so that the poor of your people may eat. And whatever remains, let the beasts of the field eat it. So shall you do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

But in the seventh year thou shalt let it rest, and leave it, and the poor of thy nation shall feed; and the wild beasts of the field shall eat that which remains: thus shalt thou do to thy vineyard and to thine oliveyard.

12 For six days, you shall work. On the seventh day, you shall cease, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the newcomer and the son of your handmaid may be refreshed.

Six days shalt thou do thy works, and on the seventh day there shall be rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and that the son of thy maid-servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

13 Preserve all that I have said to you. And by the names of foreign gods you shall not swear; neither shall these be heard from your mouth.

Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and ye shall make no mention of the name of other gods, neither shall they be heard out of your mouth.

14 Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me.

Keep ye a feast to me three times in the year.

15 You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, at the time of the month of new grain, when you departed from Egypt. You shall not appear empty-handed in my sight,

Take heed to keep the feast of unleavened bread: seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread, as I charged thee at the season of the month of new [corn], for in it thou camest out of Egypt: thou shalt not appear before me empty.

16 for it is the solemnity of the harvest of the first-fruits of your work, of whatever you have sown in the field. Likewise, it is a solemnity at the end of the season, when you will have gathered in all your crops from the field.

And thou shalt keep the feast of the harvest of first-fruits of thy labours, whatsoever thou shalt have sown in thy field, and the feast of completion at the end of the year in the gathering in of thy fruits out of thy field.

17 Three times a year, all your males shall appear before the Lord your God.

Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.

18 You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven, nor shall the fat of my solemnity remain until morning.

For when I shall have cast out the nations from before thee, and shall have widened thy borders, thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither must the fat of my feast abide till the morning.

19 You shall carry the first grain of the land to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not cook a young goat in the milk of its mother.

Thou shalt bring the first-offerings of the first-fruits of thy land into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a lamb in its mother's milk.

20 Behold, I will send my Angel, who will go before you, and preserve you on your journey, and lead you into the place that I have prepared.

And, behold, I send my angel before thy face, that he may keep thee in the way, that he may bring thee into the land which I have prepared for thee.

21 Heed him, and hear his voice, and do not hold him in disregard. For he will not release you when you have sinned, and my name is in him.

Take heed to thyself and hearken to him, and disobey him not; for he will not give way to thee, for my name is on him.

22 But if you listen to his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will afflict those who afflict you.

If ye will indeed hear my voice, and if thou wilt do all the things I shall charge thee with, and keep my covenant, ye shall be to me a peculiar people above all nations, for the whole earth is mine; and ye shall be to me a royal priesthood, and a holy nation: these words shall ye speak to the children of Israel, If ye shall indeed hear my voice, and do all the things I shall tell thee, I will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries.

23 And my Angel will go before you, and he will bring you to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, whom I will crush.

For my angel shall go as thy leader, and shall bring thee to the Amorite, and Chettite, and Pherezite, and Chananite, and Gergesite, and Evite, and Jebusite, and I will destroy them.

24 You shall not adore their gods, nor worship them. You shall not do their works, but you shall destroy them and break apart their statues.

Thou shalt not worship their gods, nor serve them: thou shalt not do according to their works, but shalt utterly destroy them, and break to pieces their pillars.

25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, so that I may bless your bread and your waters, and so that I may take away sickness from your midst.

And thou shalt serve the Lord thy God, and I will bless thy bread and thy wine and thy water, and I will turn away sickness from you.

26 There will not be fruitless or barren ones in your land. I will fill up the number of your days.

There shall not be on thy land one that is impotent or barren. I will surely fulfil the number of thy days.

27 I will send my terror to run ahead of you, and I will kill all the people to whom you will enter. And I will turn the backs of all your enemies before you,

And I will send terror before thee, and I will strike with amazement all the nations to which thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies to flee.

28 sending wasps ahead, so that they will put to flight the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, before you enter.

And I will send hornets before thee, and thou shalt cast out the Amorites and the Evites, and the Chananites and the Chettites from thee.

29 I will not cast them out from your face in one year, lest the land be reduced to a wilderness and the wild beasts increase against you.

I will not cast them out in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee.

30 I will expel them little by little from your sight, until you have expanded and may possess the land.

By little [and little] I will cast them out from before thee, until thou shalt be increased and inherit the earth.

31 Then I will set your limits to be from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Palestinians, and from the desert all the way to the river. I will deliver into your hands the inhabitants of the land, and I will cast them out from your sight.

And I will set thy borders from the Red Sea, to the sea of the Phylistines, and from the wilderness to the great river Euphrates; and I will give into your hand those that dwell in the land, and will cast them out from thee.

32 You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor with their gods.

Thou shalt make no covenant with them and their gods.

33 They may not live on your land, lest perhaps they may cause you to sin against me, if you serve their gods, which certainly would be a temptation for you.”

And they shall not dwell in thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against me; for if thou shouldest serve their gods, these will be an offence to thee.